Samsung Electronics is the largest NAND flash memory manufacturer in the world, accounting for 38.5 percent of the global market in Q3 of 2009. All of that money helps when conducting research and development into new technologies which are critical for maintaining that lead.

The company is making two NAND flash major announcements that will significantly affect consumers. The first is that it has started mass production of 30nm-class 32Gb Multi-Level Cell NAND flash memory with an asynchronous DDR interface. Samsung uses the term 30nm-class to refer to its manufacturing processes, which could range from 32nm to 34nm.

Single-Level Cell NAND flash has traditionally been faster than MLC NAND, but Samsung’s new DDR MLC NAND chip reads data at a very fast 133 Mbps. It is designed to replace the company's single data rate MLC NAND, which has an overall read performance of 40Mbps.
The process is yielding well enough that Samsung has already shipped its initial production run to major OEMs.

“With the new DDR MLC NAND, double data rate transmission can be achieved without increasing power consumption, giving designers a lot more latitude in introducing diverse CE devices.” said Soo-In Cho, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Memory Division at Samsung Electronics.

Samsung's 30nm-class SDR NAND flash was rejected by many SSD manufacturers earlier this year, stating that it was far too slow for use in SSDs. "Of course every transition to a new process has its problems," stated one source who requested anonymity. "We just weren't expecting it to be this slow".

Although Samsung put the blame on NAND flash controllers that SSD makers were using, many of those companies reported that they had overcome similar but less severe problems with Toshiba's 34nm NAND flash memory.

Nevertheless, Samsung is hopeful that its new DDR NAND flash will help satisfy the need for speed from SSD makers. The new flash gives added urgency to new SSDs that can support 6Gbps SATA.

Although 3-bit MLC has usually been slower and been capable of fewer read-write cycles than traditional 2-bit MLC, the 50 percent increase in capacity will allow Samsung to offer new NAND flash products at much lower prices. This could help lower prices of flash based devices like SSDs, which have increased in price as NAND flash prices doubled over the last six months.

“Our 3-bit NAND memory will support the development of more cost-competitive, high-density consumer electronics storage solutions,” Mr. Cho continued.

With new options for higher speed or lower cost, Samsung is adding choices for OEMs that will expand the overall flash market. Expect new SSDs and SDXC cards as these chips make their way into consumer products next year.

According to market research firm Gartner Dataquest, the global NAND flash memory market is forecast to be worth $13.8 billion this year, with sustained growth allowing it to reach $23.6 billion by 2012.

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